Trump's Advisers Are Speaking Out, in Ways Both Harsh and Subtle

There’s a protest of sorts happening among some of President Trump’s Cabinet officials and top advisers. It was Gary Cohn, the director of the National Economic Council, who kicked things off on Friday by way of an interview with the Financial Times. Following the president’s broadly criticized response to the violent rally of neo-Nazis and white supremacists in Charlottesville, Cohn told the British paper that Trump “can and must do better” on race relations.

“I have come under enormous pressure both to resign and to remain in my current position,” Cohn told the Times. “As a patriotic American, I am reluctant to leave my post as director of the National Economic Council because I feel a duty to fulfill my commitment to work on behalf of the American people. But I also feel compelled to voice my distress over the events of the last two weeks. Citizens standing up for equality and freedom can never be equated with white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and the KKK.”

Then, on Sunday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson appeared on Fox News Sunday and was pressed by host Chris Wallace about the challenge of spreading American values when “some foreign leaders question the president’s values” in light of his response to Charlottesville.

“Chris, we express America's values from the State Department. We represent the American people. We represent America's values, our commitment to freedom, our commitment to equal treatment to people the world over. And that message has never changed,” Tillerson said. “I don't believe anyone doubts the American people's values or the commitment of the American government or the government's agencies to advancing those values and defending those values.”

“And the president’s values?” Wallace asked.